InShort

A round-up of today's other business stories in brief.

Fall in job vacancies in all sectors

A sharp fall in employment vacancies took place last month, new data suggests.

According to the Fás and Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) employment and vacancies survey, about 12 per cent of firms said they currently had vacancies, down from 20 per cent in January. The fall occurred across all sectors but the services sector experienced the sharpest drop.

The mood for future employment brightened slightly, with the survey's "net employment expectations" indicator showing the share of firms expecting employment levels to rise in coming months exceeding those expecting a fall by two percentage points.

Expectations are negative in the construction, retail and industrial sectors.

Ryan exercises airline options

Ryanair founder Tony Ryan has netted €375,000 after exercising the right to buy and sell shares in the budget airline through a share option scheme.

According to a statement released to the stock exchange yesterday, Mr Ryan bought 100,000 shares at €1.85 each and then sold them for €5.60 a share.

New Deloitte managing partner

Deloitte has appointed Pat Cullen as managing partner. He will take up his new role on June 1st.

Mr Cullen joined Deloitte in 1978 and became a partner in 1986. He is national taxation leader of the Irish practice and has served on the executive board of the practice since 1999.

He is a also past president of the Irish Taxation Institute. Deloitte, which has offices in Dublin, Cork and Limerick, employs nearly 900 people in Ireland.

Inflation out of step with OECD

Rising Irish inflation is bucking international trends according to new data which shows inflation falling across the world's most developed economies. The rate of inflation amongst member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) fell to 1.9 per cent year-on-year in January, compared with 2.2 per cent in December.

Inflation also fell in the euro area to 1.8 per cent compared with 1.9 per cent in December. In Ireland, inflation rose to 5.2 per cent in January, up from 4.9 per cent in December. Ireland's inflation rate is now the second highest in the OECD after Turkey, where inflation was 9.9 per cent in January.

Údarás sues clean water company

Údarás na Gaeltachta has sued a clean water company over damage to an industrial premises owned by the State agency in Spiddal, Co Galway.

In High Court proceedings, Údarás claims the damage was caused by leaks of sulphuric acid in 1993. However, the defendant, Uisce Glan Teo, which occupies the premises under lease from Údarás, denies any liability for repairing damage and contends the damage was caused by accumulated water pressure.

The case continues

Funda replaces Dutch team

Online real estate company Funda has replaced its Dutch management with a new management team following a disagreement between the former management and the company's board of directors about the future direction of the company.

Ronan Higgins, who heads Funda's Irish business, said the change would have no impact on the company's operations here.